RYAN MOORE
Master Craftsman
No jockey matched the global success of Ryan Moore in the past 12 months and with Auguste Rodin returning as well as City Of Troy developing further, there is much for the Ballydoyle No 1 to look forward to
Words: Donn McClean • Photos: Caroline Norris
The start of the race didn’t go to plan. Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita, but there was no real rhythm to the race early on, Ryan Moore said immediately afterwards. The start was messy, all he wanted to do was get his horse into a rhythm, and he couldn’t really do that. Even so, you always felt that Auguste Rodin was going to get there.
Fourth-last as they raced past the winning line with a circuit to go, the field concertinaed as they raced to the end of the back straight, racing room at a premium. Auguste Rodin was still fourth-last, locked away on the inside.
Ryan Moore could have panicked, burrowed his way towards the outside, given away ground and momentum in order to ensure clear passage, but he didn’t. Panic is not in the Ryan Moore arsenal. Tactics need to be adapted mid-race, but that’s why you have a world-class rider on your side. It’s sport at the highest level. It’s uncanny the way that the world-class players seem to be able to find room in a congested midfield, on the world stage, in the most important matches. You play the percentages in judgement calls that have to be made in milliseconds, decision-making and percentage-playing as you hurtle around a hairpin bend at 35 miles an hour.
Auguste Rodin went forward along the inside as they raced around the crown of the home turn, made his ground smoothly until he was just behind the front rank. The leader, Balladeer moved a little off the inside as they started to straighten up, and Moore pounced. He needed to have a horse who was able to pick up instantly and move into the fleeting gap when it presented itself, but he knew that he had. His confidence in Aidan O’Brien’s horse has always been unwavering.
Auguste Rodin hit the front with more than a furlong to run, and that was in loads of time, too early if anything. He just waits there, said his rider afterwards. He didn’t skip clear and win by five and a half lengths, he just did what he needed to do to hold his rivals at bay. When he got to the winning line, he was three-parts of a length in front of Up To The Mark.
“I remember the first time I rode Auguste Rodin,” says Ryan Moore now, in reflective mood. “He stood out for me. Not many make an impression on you like he did. Maybe I wanted him to be good, given his breeding, but it’s nice when that all comes to fruition.”
His breeding is noteworthy, by Japanese champion Deep Impact, out of the Galileo mare Rhododendron, winner of the Fillies’ Mile, the Prix de l’Opera and the Lockinge Stakes, a Group 1 winner at two, at three and at four.
“You’re thinking, maybe he could be a Derby horse.”
Auguste Rodin was indeed a Derby horse, is a Derby horse. He won the Derby at Epsom, when Ryan Moore gave him the perfect ride, down the outside and delivered with Tag Heuer precision to get up and beat King Of Steel by a half a length. Then he went to The Curragh and added the Irish Derby.
“There were excuses for his defeats this year,” says Ryan, “and he has come back every time. Irish Champion Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Turf. We have always had belief in this horse, and he has been campaigned bravely.”
“He ran all the way through the line and down to the white fence at the end of the track. I’ve never been going that hard at a fence like that, and I was running out of ideas… thankfully... he stood up and I managed to stay on board”
The good news is that, all going well, the brave campaign will continue into next year, as Auguste Rodin is set to race on as a four-year-old.
“It’s great that he stays in training next year,” says his rider. “His sire Deep Impact raced as a four-year-old, he was even better at four than he was at three. The Japanese keep a lot of their horses in training. His dam Rhododendron was a Group 1 winner at four. We think that there is more to come from him.”
City Of Troy left a major impression on Moore when winning his maiden and everything he has done since marks him out as hugely exciting prospect for next season
“His sire Deep Impact was even better at four than he was at three... His dam Rhododendron was a Group 1 winner at four. We think that there is more to come from him”
Auguste Rodin provided four of Ryan Moore’s 19 Group/Grade 1 wins in what was another stellar year for the rider. His partnership with Aidan O’Brien was an irresistible thread that ran through the season, his victories at the highest level a constant through the calendar – at least one Group 1 win every month from March to November inclusive –dotted, as they were, around the globe – Ireland, Britain, France, Dubai, Australia, America – on four different continents.
His talents are universally recognised. Wherever you go in the racing world, Ryan Moore’s services are in demand. On his first weekend in Japan after the Melbourne Cup, he rode for five different trainers.
He rode in every race at Royal Ascot this year. There were 35 races, seven each day, five days, and Ryan Moore rode in all 35. Remarkable. There was a clamour for his services when his commitments to Aidan O’Brien allowed. He was top rider at Royal Ascot this year too, again, for the tenth time.
If you were looking for a snapshot of Ryan Moore, jockey, if you were looking for a synopsis of a cross-section of the talents that he has in his armoury, you got it during Royal Ascot week. Three winners on the first day, River Tiber and Paddington and Vauban. Paddington and Vauban won well, but still, no harm in having one of the best jockeys in the world on your side. River Tiber needed riding on the far side in the Coventry Stakes, he needed to be asked for his effort at the right time and delivered, and he was. Got up to win by a neck.
Warm Heart won the Ribblesdale by two lengths, but even so, the ride that Ryan Moore gave her may have made the difference between victory and defeat. Handy and prominent from early behind a moderate early pace, but not too aggressive, and maximising the advantage of her high draw over a mile and a half.
Okita Soushi in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes was the same but different. Same course, same distance, same result (first), but a different ride, held up from a low-to-middle draw, well off a fast pace, and delivered late.
You can easily figure out the strength of the pace of a race afterwards, you can assess times and sectionals and finishing speeds. Not so easy when you’re in the middle of it, figuring it out literally on the hoof. Ryan Moore did that consistently at Royal Ascot this year, does so consistently on racecourses all over the world every year.
City Of Troy didn’t go to Royal Ascot, he didn’t make his racecourse debut until early July, long after they had closed the Golden Gates. But it was well worth the wait, as he came right away from his rivals through the final furlong of a seven-furlong maiden on Irish Derby weekend.
“He only got organised in the last 100 yards that day,” says Ryan. “He ran all the way through the line and down to the white fence at the end of the track. I’ve never been going that hard at a fence like that, and I was running out of ideas. But you see horses in the field, running at fences and stopping, and thankfully, he stopped, we didn’t crash through the fence. He stood up and I managed to stay on board.”
City Of Troy moved on from The Curragh, went to Newmarket’s July meeting, where he put up another hugely impressive performance in winning the Superlative Stakes. There is more room to pull up on Newmarket’s July Course than there is at The Curragh but, even so, the rider didn’t take any chances. He asked City Of Troy for his effort fully two furlongs from home, and the horse responded, cleared away from his rivals to win by six and a half lengths. Then he went back to Newmarket in October for the Dewhurst Stakes.
“I wasn’t surprised that he did what he did in the Superlative Stakes,” says Ryan. “We were concerned about the ground in the Dewhurst but, at the same time, I didn’t see how they were going to beat him. That’s a nice way to be approaching a race.”
City Of Troy won the Dewhurst. You always felt that he was going to get there too.